$2.35 Million Approved in Flight Attendants’ Suit

A federal judge on Thursday approved a $2.35-million settlement for female flight attendants who sued Pan American World Airways for using more-demanding weight standards for them than for men.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson said the settlement was “fundamentally fair” and “highly favorable” to the attendants, despite objections from six women whose damage claims were fully or partially denied.

The settlement will be shared by about 115 women who were suspended, fired or denied promotions because of the weight policy. Pan Am also agreed to liberalize its weight standards for current and future employees.

The airline’s former policy used a 1959 insurance company table of heights and weights, but judged men under the standard for “large frames,” and women under the standard for “medium frames.” A 5-foot-7 woman was allowed to weigh 139 pounds under the “medium” standard,” but would have been allowed to weigh 150 under the “large” standard.

The Independent Union of Flight Attendants sued Pan Am in 1984 and won a ruling from Henderson in 1987, in a non-jury trial, that the policy was biased. It was the first ruling to find discrimination by an airline that had weight policies for both men and women, said Richard Schoolman, Pan Am’s lawyer.

The judge ordered the airline to use a “large frame” standard for both men and women hired while the policy was in effect, through the end of 1984. He found the standard to be non-discriminatory although it allowed men to weigh more than women. The issue of damages was reserved for a later stage of the case.

Pan Am appealed Henderson’s ruling, denying that it had discriminated. The appeal is being dropped as part of the settlement, without any admission of discrimination.

The settlement retains Henderson’s previous order on weight standards and also increases some of the standards adopted by the airline in 1985, when it started setting weight requirements according to an employee’s individual build. In addition, women hired after 1985 get another three-pound allowance at ages 35, 45 and 55.

Though $2.5 million was less than the women might have gotten in individual damage claims, Henderson said it was reasonable in light of the time an appeal would have taken.